The SoapBoxers

Since Kosmo went with fiction, and Angry covered politics, I am going to write about Thanksgiving. I am supposed to be writing about writing, this is National Novel Writing Month after all, but I do not have much to report as I have done poorly for the effort this year.

What does Thanksgiving mean to you? Many would say to Football, others would point to family, and others would concentrate on overindulgence with food. This year, the news was filled with reports that the President’s Thanksgiving address ignored God and referenced being thankful for out luck, what ever that means. I did not personally listen to that address and do not believe I have ever listed to a Presidential Thanksgiving address, so it has no importance to me.

Thanksgiving means more than all of that to me. As the son of a veteran, I call to mind all of those who have served and are currently serving to protect our lives, our liberties and our bounty. I cannot express it any better than the original proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, so I will copy it below.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln

This year I have again challenged my readers to join in the writing frenzy known as the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org). This year, my attempts have been an abject failure. The goal of the challenge is to capture 50,000 words towards a novel in the 30 days of November. We are at the half way point and we should be at 25,000 words. I am just shy of 10,000. I have thrown away two weekends that should have provided the time to get ahead of the curve. My only chance of meeting the goal is to use the time off that I have planned for Thanksgiving.

I have written several articles on how to stay focused, break through writer’s block, and various writing techniques. I have failed to heed my own advice. The cares of the world (work, family, yard work) have interrupted my writing and my chain of thought. The weekend days, those days that should provide the best opportunity for writing, have been the very days I have not written at all. I certainly hope that each of you has fared better.

So if I cannot really write about writing today, I have another topic to bring up. As most of you who have read my other articles are aware, I am a college and professional football (American) fan. I have an observation, not just from this weekend, but an over all consideration for the season. Both at the collegiate level and the professional level, effort are underway to make the game safer by implementing a helmet to helmet contact rule. What I have observed in the application of this rule. If the defender lowers his blow to strike the chest or midsection and the offensive player also lowers and initiated the helmet to helmet contact, the defender is flagged.

I understand the difficulty in determining intent or over aggressiveness. In the cases that I thought were incorrectly called, there was no net effect on the game. I believe that they will work out the system, similar to the way they have incorporated a good system for calling spearing (launching oneself head first). I also understand that the officials are erring on the side of safety. There is one part of this rule that I like, fines are assessed on players even if there is no penalty during the game. This action will teach the players that even if they get away with a dangerous hit during the game, reviews will still result in corrective action after the fact.

I diverged from writing to write about sports. I should return to writing. I hope that you do too.

If you are participating in National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org), then you should be writing up a storm. By now, you should be at about 10,000 words. I have not been keeping up the pace. Luckily, there are several more weekends and the Thanksgiving Holiday before the end of November. To make the goal of 50,000 words before the end of November, you basically have to keep up a steady pace of writing. Do not allow the every day distractions to keep you from creating a story like now other.

If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, I would suggest looking at the news. There are so many stories available. This weekend alone, the Royal Couple announced they would be moving into a new “family friendly” castle, there was an Earthquake in Oklahoma of all places, and there were plenty of politicians saying silly things. Remember, real life can just provide the setting or characters, your story can go where ever you want.

As I have recommended in the past, you can start each night just recounting your day, from first cup of coffee, to struggling to stay awake while you are writing. This should at the very least get the writing juices going. I you still can’t get going, take a breather. You can always pick it up again tomorrow.

The NaNoWriMo competition is for fun. Writing is for fun as well. If it becomes a chore or a second job, the fun will just drain away and the river of words will dry up. This is a short post today, I have to get back to my novel.

Tomorrow, Tuesday November 1 2011 is the start of National Novel Writing Month. Are you ready? This is a great opportunity to test your skills, develop you ideas and enter the realm of writing. Your topic can be serious or whimsical, topical or fantasy, personal or political. In this case, it is actually all about you. You choose your topic. You choose your message. And you choose every word that you put down. If you choose to participate in the organized event sponsored by the Office Of Letters and Light at NaNoWriMo.org, then you can work within a community and get fancy (symbolic but no actual dollar value) prizes. The goal is set, 50,000 words in 30 days. That is 1667 words a day on average.

I have participated in the challenge for the last two years and will be again this year. Why did I even think of participating? Well that is a mixed bag of suggestions, distractions and loneliness. A co-worker first showed me the NaNoWriMo challenge. I hesitated for several years. My kids encouraged me, but still I did not jump in. Then in 2009, I was on an extended work trip in California with nothing to do in the evenings. I had a computer and lots of time, especially on weekends. The result was a romance novel titled A Changed Man. It was not what I originally planned, but it is what I ended up with.

Why did I do it again? That answer is much less complicated. I really enjoyed writing the first work and Kosmo had invited me to relate my experience on The Soap Boxers (then know as the Casual Observer). Basically, I got addicted to writing. It was fun and I could write down anything. The second effort is Science Fiction titled Out There. To date, it is at about 100,000 words and only about 2/3rds of the way done. The Romance was about 150 pages in standard 5.5×8.5 binding. The Science Fiction will be about 400 pages. Both of these are about average for their genre. I did not aim for a specific length, these are just the results of my efforts.

What am I going to do this year? Well, this year is a response to a request by my sons. It will be an almost comic book story to be titled Fire Breathing Ninja Squirrels from Outer Space. I think the title alone gives you enough to put a picture in your head. I have the location picked out already, northern Minnesota. I have also thought about the heroic kids who are much smarter than any of the adults, the evil invaders, the loyal dogs, and the native squirrels torn between their love of home and allegiance to the invading species. All in all, this one should be fun, and easy to keep up the word count.

Remember the rules, no actual writing of the novel until November 1. Good luck and happy writing!

This is my 100th article on the Soap Boxers. We have had a number of milestones over the last few weeks. Johnny had his 100th article two weeks ago and Kosmo posted the 1000th article for the site last week. I was originally brought on board for two reasons that I remember; to write about writing and to help fill in as a regular while Johnny was on a leave of absence. Although I have strayed into politics and sports on occasion, I have been regular in my postings, published articles on writing and provided short stories and chapters from larger works. It is almost two years since my first post, and if you search back into the archives, that post was to publicize an annual writing event called National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo.

It seems appropriate to return to that beginning. November is National Novel Writing Month. It was not designated by congress, nor is it recognized by any religious organization that I am aware of. It is a competition established by the office of The Office of Letters and Light. The idea is rather simple; during the month of November write a novel or at least part of a novel. The goal is 50,000 words in 30 days. If you succeed, you get some pretty nifty download stuff; icons and logos to show off on social media and an official winner’s certificate. No money, just the reward of actually writing, and some electronic recognition and bragging rights.

So why would anyone want to do this? That is also simple; to write just to write and have a lot of other people doing the same thing at the same time. NaNoWriMo has a community of other writing enthusiasts in regions across the globe. There are local groups who get together at coffee shops to provide companionship, encouragement and generally hang out. Registering is easy, you provide as much information as you are comfortable with and you write. I would recommend signing up now so that you are ready to hit the road running on November 1. You can participate in regional activity at what ever level you desire, attend all the meeting live or go it alone. Periodically through the month, and defiantly on the last day, you paste you work into a word counter to get an official tally and earn your rewards. None of what you copy into the site is saved, so you work is yours and yours alone.

The completion is to get people to write. Publishing is your own responsibility, although there are several helpful articles to get you going in the right direction. I have personally participated for the last two years and succeeded in getting to the 50,000 goal both times. My first effort will be released here on The Soap Boxers before Christmas (I know I have been promising release for a year now). My second effort is still a work in progress. Although well past 50,000 words, it is still far from complete.

Reaching the goal of 50,000 words is not as hard as it may seem. First, remember that everything you write does not have to end up in the final product. The idea is to encourage writing, even if some of it is trash. To make the goal, you have to average 1667 words per day. That may seem like a lot, but consider that this article is well over 800 words and it has taken me less than an hour to write. The beginning of the effort may be a struggle, but once you start putting words together and a story or multiple stories start popping into your head, it will get easier. In several of my earlier articles, I have put forth suggestions for plot development, character development and fighting writer’s block. If you have trouble writing one night, just start itemizing your day. In this way at least, you will be adding to your word count and practicing writing and who knows, some of it may end up in a best seller!

I hope that many of you choose to take up the challenge. Even if you do not formalize your writing efforts through NaNoWriMo, I hope that you try your hand at writing. At the very least, take the opportunity to post comments on the various articles here on The Soap Boxers. Each of us has written at least one controversial or at least provocative article over the years. What ever your passion, there is always something to write about. In his 1000th site article commentary, Kosmo related that I had stated that I should be paying him for the opportunity and forum that he provides for my writing attempts. I do believe that I owe him much more that he owes me. He provides this platform, not just for me, but for all of his writers and for all of the visitors to the site. All you have to do is write.

There is a lot of praise and condemnation of the Occupy Wall Street group and other groups like them springing up around the country. Even in my small middle America town there is a group, although they go home at night and to their jobs on week days. There is a lot to like and dislike about them. They are not the demons or saints that the various bloggers, reporters and talk show host make them out to be. They are typically law-abiding people with a complaint that they do not think is being addressed by our governmental leaders.

First, the name of 99%ers. The right wing complains because they have defined that label as a claim to represent the views of 99% of the population. This claim and accusation are equally absurd. The people have identified themselves as part of the 99% of people below the highest wealth group of American society. This is an accurate description.

Second is the message. They are mad about the bailouts of companies that have outrageous bonus and pay structures for their executives. They are also complaining about a lot of other perceived injustices that can hardly be considered a cohesive or comprehensible message. I agree with the complaint about the bail outs. A lot of our tax money was spent to save failed businesses. If you are rewarded for taking risks with large salaries and bonuses, then why are you rewarded when there is no risk? A risk is an action that could result in loss. In these cases, the “risk” was to spend someone else’s money, but get paid whether you succeeded or failed.

I find it interesting that the targets are just some of the executives, not all, and that the decision makers, our elected officials, are not the targets. These protests are very similar to the Tea Party protests last year, only the identified enemy is different.

I have seen signs complaining about large loans. Why did you take out the loans in the first place? I have seen signs complaining about large debts from college. Why is that the fault of the banks? I agree that there is a problem, but the problem seems to be in our own ability to identify the root cause. If you are deeply in debt, it is you fault. You never have to take out a loan. If you college education cost a lot and you can’t get a job, blame the university, not the bank.

I was lucky, I got an education back when it was reasonably priced. I lived in my parents’ home, went to the state college, and got a degree that had the potential of resulting in a job opportunity. I have kids in college right now. Both my wife and I are working to help keep the final debt to a minimum, but it is not easy. The cost of a college education has gone up many more times than the potential income boost of having that education. Since we do not live near the state school that has the career degrees that my kids are perusing, they live in a dorm. They do not have cars, TVs, IPods, IPhones, IPads or spending money. They work every summer and some during the school year. They have cell phones, the cheapest on a family plan. They do not have texting or unlimited anything.

We own a home. We did not spend anywhere near the amount of money that the bank suggested, instead we looked at what we could afford. We own a car, but we did not start off with a new one and we drive our cars until they are too expensive to repair, not until they are out of style.

So I do agree with the 99%ers. We should not be bailing out the banks, car companies, investment firms, or governmentally sponsored mortgage organizations. I disagree with them in other ways, and I cannot tell how many I actually disagree with because of the confusion of demands. I do not believe that we should forgive any loans. I was distressed that I had to explain to my youngest child why that was a bad idea. I believe that I will repeat it here, since many of the protesters do not understand how basic banking works. If we forgive the loans, we are stealing from every depositor to that bank. That’s right, stealing. Every dollar that is loaned out comes from the pool of money that depositors have put in the bank. Apparently, the protestors think that the banks just have the money from some magical source. So if we forgive the loans, grandma suddenly has no savings.

I do agree that college costs too much. I do not agree that this is the fault of the banks. The only people you can blame are the colleges themselves. The banks do not set tuition rates. I am especially aggravated with state schools, which take tax dollars and still raise the rate at more that inflation. I am not in the business of education, but there seem to be a lot of courses and degrees that do not lead to employment. Sure you may feel good about yourself for delving into some niche group study, but if it forces up tuition that much, is it worth it?

To keep my message at least somewhat coherent, I will not even address some of the other complaints.

I don’t know about you, but fall is my favorite season. Sure there is a lot of work to do around the house, getting ready for winter and cleaning up mostly. Raking leaves out in bright sun shine with a good breeze is invigorating. Cutting back the perennials, pulling up the annuals and just looking up at the majesty of the trees establishes the boundary between summer and winter. The squirrels and rabbits dodge about gathering what they can for the days to come, and the kids rejoice in spreading the leaves that you have so carefully piled. This is not a one day effort. Every couple of days there is a new vista and more work. First the Ashes drop their bright yellow leaves, then the aspens and maples drop orange, yellows and reds, and finally the mighty oaks add their dazzling array of color to the mix.

The smells and sounds of the season are so rich. The maple leaves have the strong aroma of whisky barrels, the pines add their heady tar, and the final harvest of vegetables are a medley of smells. There is always at least one person in the neighborhood with an open pit fire going to add the feel of a campout. Everyone is out, talking about the year, talking about sports, worrying about the coming weather. When you have had enough (you are never truly done), you can head inside for more evidence of change.

There are football games, baseball games and cooking. Every house I enter this time of year is filled with the smells of wondrous foods. Some are canning for the winter, others are making pies, cookies, tailgate snacks, or other goodies. It is a good thing there is so much work to do, or we would all pack on extra pounds. We relish these days because we know that they are few. Soon, the World Series will be over, Halloween will be upon us, cold and rainy weather will dampen our spirits. We will still have football, good food and camaraderie to keep us going, at least through January. But for now, this is good season.

I love this time of year. The leaves are changing and the real college football games are finally on. I had the opportunity to see my Texas Longhorns open Big XII play against Iowa State. My kids and my money go to Iowa State, but my heart is still in Texas, at least for college sports. My daughter and I sat on the 10 year line row 4 on the Texas side of the field. We both wore burnt orange. I have to say that the Iowa State fans were (for the most part) very nice and polite. Sure there were a couple of annoying drunks complaining about every play, but all in all, nice.

The game was good, from my point of view. Texas was up 34-0 at half time and the game was never really in doubt (don’t forget you owe me a lunch, Kosmo). It was kind of sad when the crowd got excited about a 5 yard penalty against Texas. Nothing went right for Iowa State until late in the fourth quarter. They had a lot of penalties and several hurt players. One young man left on the golf cart after a helmet hit. Both teams and the entire crowd prayed for him as he left.

This is college football at its best. Enjoying the game, respecting both teams, and games that matter. What I mean by this is a perspective on College football. Only a few teams are “playing for the national championship” from the start of the season. The first few games are warm ups, sometimes matching two high level teams, but usually matching small against large. The real contest for most teams is to try to win their conference. With that under your belt you can consider the national championship, that is once you get your bowl game sorted out. Some teams look forward to just one specific game against a specific rival (for Texas, that is beating Oklahoma), and that can sometimes be more important than even having a winning season.

As long as I have followed College ball, opponents have worn tee-shirts emblazoned with “Beat Texas”. I have also seen “Beat OU”, “Beat State” (pretty generic actually) and “Beat N”. I guess it gets expensive to write out Oklahoma or Nebraska. This year, the Iowa State fan had shirts with “Beat Texas Again”. I liked that. It didn’t happen, but I still liked the sentiment. Since they beat Texas last year, (and really started the Texas collapse by showing the world where Texas was weak) those shirts can be worn every year from now on.

There were several great games (sorry about Nebraska Johnny) this week. There were still some tune up games (notably Oklahoma beating up on Ball State), but mostly we saw conference battles and relatively evenly matched schools. It just gets better next week. With the realignment of conferences, there will be some games that will not occur (OU or Texas vs Nebraska for the big XII championship is one), but that just provides more opportunities for really good bowl games in December and January.

I still do not understand how the rankings work. I do not see how not playing can cause you to drop in the polls or how there can be 2 loss teams still in the top 25. But that is OK. I am not a sports writer and I do not have a vote. That lets me complain about every team’s position in every poll.

There have been many columns and many opinions published about the future of the Big XII conference. The focus primarily has been on the football angle of the configuration. As a Texas graduate and fan, I want to see the conference survive, with Texas and Oklahoma still part of the group. I feel that the conference was really hurt by the departure of Nebraska, but not so much by the departure of Colorado or the future departure of Texas A&M. True there is a good rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M, but that is really the only thing that was brought to the table with Texas A&M. If we break it down by sport we can see that this is a strong conference. You probably notice that there is only discussion of splintering during football season.

Football has a number of perennial bowl team – Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska (☹), and a number of contenders most of the time – Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Missouri. Even this year, Baylor and Texas A&M are ranked.

Men’s Basketball has perennial NCAA teams – Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and a number of contenders most years – Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas A&M.

Women’s Basketball has perennial NCAA teams – Baylor and Iowa State recently, Texas in the past, and contenders – Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State.

Baseball we have Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, and Oklahoma almost every year and Texas A&M Oklahoma State showing well recently.

Softball there is Missouri, Texas, Baylor each year.

Wrestling we have Iowa State and Missouri (and Nebraska) showing well every year.

There is swimming, track and field, and rowing. There are very few sports that the big XII is not represented at the tournament levels. Beyond that, every team is successful in at least one sport.

It seems that most writers are concentrating on the demise of the conference and the assumption that Oklahoma and Texas will leave for a “better” deal. What is so unbelievable about the Big XII finding good teams (Big East or unhappy other teams) to make a super conference? Bringing in a West Virginia or UConn or even an Arkansas would strengthen an already strong conference.

In the final analysis, none of the authors who have expressed their opinions actually know what is happening behind the scenes at the conference. I, as a fan, can only hope that the financial and other issues can be worked out to establish the Big XII as a dominant permanent conference in all of the NCAA sports.

Yet again this last week, congress considered a funding bill. This one was to provide continuing budget to the office of emergency management. There was a great deal of talk, for anyone still interested in listening, about how there could be no opposition to this bill as it was to help the poor people suffering from the flooding in the north east. The bill failed, mostly because it was not just funding for the stated problem, but also because the flooding was minor compared to other disasters that have not been addressed by the federal government, notably the fires in Texas.

The problem is not that this bill failed. It is not even that this bill was proposed. The problem is that congress has failed to address a fundamental duty of that body. They have not passed a budget. This is now coming up on two years and two separate congresses that a budget has not been established.

Why is a budget so important? The budget establishes what the government will spend. Any new projects have to find funding. It allows the various contractors who support government programs plan staffing and activities. The largest of these that the press reports on is the military, but that is now less than a third of the budget. There are a large contingent of non-government workers supporting social and infrastructure programs as well. Without a budget, governmental departments are supposed to continue to spend at the level established the previous year, but some things, such as the medical program known as Obama Care, have never been baselined and are therefore not under any fiscal control.

What about the continuing resolution that was passed last month? Actually, that was a basic duck and roll. It was more about raising the debt limit than providing budgetary guidance to the departments. It was as surrender to the cry of imminent disaster. In fact, if the continuing resolution had not been passed and the debt limit had not been approved, the government would have continued pretty much without effect on 99% of people. There would have been mandatory reduction in all departments, social security would have continued without interruption (it is a separate tax) but the big effect would have been zeroing out spending on all non-baselined activities. Obama Care and any remaining funds I the bailouts would have been deleted. Basically, everything that the last two congresses have passed but not budgeted, would have been halted.

I am not going to discuss whether these projects should be funded, that is the debate that the congress has to have. What I am condemning is the apparent abdication of responsibility of the congress to pass a budget and hold the government to some sort of spending control.